


Sunflower

by Schattenfeuer



Series: Ophelia [2]
Category: Nightmare Harem (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Other, Reader-Insert, Slow Romance, genderneutral reader
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:06:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25780297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schattenfeuer/pseuds/Schattenfeuer
Summary: In this prison of the mind, he couldn't help but reflect on this breeze of spring that had come in his life so recently.
Relationships: Mikael/reader
Series: Ophelia [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1867681
Kudos: 1





	Sunflower

Like the steady drop of water on a stone you had a creeping effect on him, slow and almost unnoticed you pushed your way through the ice he kept himself surrounded with, melted the thorns and spikes that kept his injured heart from hemorrhaging away before stitching back together those old wounds, one by one with gentle hand and nursing manner, you poured your everything into the empty vessel that was him and at the end of the day, when you were tired and exhausted, your tongue leaden and mouth dry from all those words you had shared willingly, he had to still his hand to prevent it from reaching out and squeezing even the last drop out of you.

You were a strange one, a myth in the flesh, not angel, not demon but something in between. The stories you told were more enchanting to him than the logic behind the most complex spell, for those his mind could comprehend, but trying to put the pieces you provided into a whole picture, one he was so very unfamiliar with, he found himself struggling, for the second time in his life he found himself being eclipsed by someone, only this time around he did not felt like choking in the shadows. 

With the drip, drip, drip of you, the stone that was his unwillingness, his inability to let anyone get close, was relenting, over a time that seemed too long for just three months, you managed to reach out, to connect not only him but the others in his household, all while never expecting even a word of thanks in return. He had, at some point along the line, gotten used to your smile, to the tingling rush of warmth that warmed his chilled bones and loosened the tense cords of muscles along his back. 

So when the waterflow started to stutter, to sputter and weaken significantly by the day, he was paralyzed by terror, not because his life was about to end prematurely but because your sunflower warm smile fell from your lips, shattered on reality’s cold surface like it had been made out of spun glass, in the hectic that followed the ritual’s preparation he had not seen the way those shards of your shattered smile had dug themselves deep into your flesh. You had been bleeding just below the surface, had been for too long and when it finally had shown itself, he was out of time.

All while something else had floated between you two, something neither of you would dare to name, out of fear to acknowledge it, putting a title that was both ill-fitted and unsuited, only made things worse, the bleeding under your skin became a little less bearable, the hurt distanced you from him and he was helpless, aimless, alone again, despite you sitting right in front of him. Even when your eyes had clouded over and the tender skin beneath them marred with bruising signs of your sleeplessness, you came whenever he called out, but maybe those words he used weren’t the right ones, for the distance between you seemed to grow by the hour. 

Something was killing you from within, he could see it, he was not blind after all, but you were good in hiding the reason, hid it behind glib words and smooth transitions, distracted when he came too close and laughed a smile like brittle glass when others would have spilled bitter tears. The closer the night of the red moon came, the more you started to fade away, you became a ghost that haunted his home, this cold, barest of bones house, that had never quite felt like one up until you had moved in. Like a fresh spring breeze you had brought the promise of warmth with you and colors had seeped in. 

Never had white looked to vibrant with the shades of blue and red and green and yellow flitting over the blank walls of this castle turned home, you had explained him one evening that white light was simply a coming together of lights in all colors and something about those words had strung a cord within him, they stuck to him like his own shadow. Even now he had to think about the hidden meaning behind those simple words. 

Had you known about it? Maybe you were offering him something precious, something he had not realized he needed, wanted, right from the start? And too blind to notice, he had taken too long for it to come to affect now. Either way, Mikael was bound to head to an early grave in exchange for the world’s most precious gift, the water that run through its rivers and seas, but if he had one wish before vanishing from this existence, then he would not waste a second about what he wanted to see happening. He wanted nothing more than to bring back the sunflower smile on your lips, the one that lit up your eyes and stretched over your entire face in a dawning of joy. 

“You’re smiling again...Good.”, the relief that bled out of his every pore was palpable, was echoes by similar exclaims all around the table. Maybe, he had foolishly thought back then, he didn’t need to waste a wish for the return of your smile. No, he corrected himself quickly, maybe he should wish for it to stay this time around, to see you so empty, devoid of anything, with him now holding all those emotions, thoughts and dreams you had poured into him like the finest of wine, was an anguish on his expertitly stitched heart, yet another part of him that had been touched and changed by you. “I missed your smile”

If only he had seen it, that miniscule flinch in your posture, the way your smile had tilted just the fraction of an inch to the side, maybe he could have seen what had been done to you, maybe at that time, he could have stopped you from bleeding out underneath your untouched skin. But he didn’t and neither did any of his comrades, as much as he wanted to blame them, this was all on him, he was the one closest to you and had not noticed the warning signs, instead believed that everything would be fine. 

“Yes. I found a reason to smile again”, you had replied so softly, so convinced and sure of yourself, it did wonders to this cold heart of his, the same one you had nursed back to full health so caringly. It would always recognize your touch and Mikael felt something else bleed into the relief, a longing that had been going unanswered for so long now. “I bet you will too soon”

Thoughts of maybe and perhaps were plaguing his mind after this strange declaration of yours, did you mean it? Were you meaning what you said? The steady supply of water drops was drilling deeper and deeper into the stone below, right into the soft center, to lay it bare to the world. Something snapped.

Once again, the conversation had been centered around you, when you came to visit him, but he had barely noticed how little of him he had given away to you, was too wrapped up in learning everything there was about you, if he could feel the last days feeling, thinking as a freed man, then he would willingly march into the grave prepared for him, he would end this all with a smile and only the best of wishes for you, gratitude and friendship and even something unnamable blossoming in his chest, The thought that you would continue to live and grace others with this colorful spark of yours was a cold comfort, but it served well enough to tamper down the dull pain that had begun to come hand in hand with this unanswered longing of his. 

“I am really grateful to you.”, he hadn’t even noticed when you had fallen silent, right here in his personal room, where he had ordered you to come. Playing with your teacup, you stared at your own reflection in your cold tea and sighed so heavily, he felt the urge to reach out and take just a fraction of your burden off your slouched shoulders. “When I first came here, I thought I was gonna freeze to death. Emotionally I mean. I have always seen myself as a more chaotic person, so the calmness here helped me center myself.”

Was that what you thought of him? Of his home? Didn’t you see that the serenity you described had its roots with you? Before your arrival in this world, Mikael would have called Sky Castle a prison. One he had entered willingly and one with open doors, but nonetheless the bars of responsibility and the shackles of his entire tribe resting heavily upon his limbs were still there. Were what dragged him towards this drastic decision. It was an honor, sure, but he would not be there to see it happen, he would be dead and gone, join his many brothers and sisters in whatever afterlife there came. 

“M-mikael?!”, were you surprised? Were you sincerely surprised that he could no longer take this for even a second longer? It had been you after all, who had taught him subconsciously how to feel again, something different than mild irritation and anger stemming from jealousy, you had taken away every thorn and every spike of ice embedded within his heart, had spent hours, days, months to put him back together, to one whole that you then deemed as perfection with a simple smile. Were you expecting for all your deeds to go unnoticed? How could he not have those thoughts of you now? When you were always around him, sometimes in person, sometimes just in thought, when your laughter pearled of the white-light-colorful-shadows-walls of his home. “What...are you doing…”

Your voice was hoarse when he closed the last bit of distance between you, both of you were tired of this, of dancing back and forth and finally, you just gave in, looked, actually looked into his eyes and were dazed by what you found. Who made the first step after that, he did not know, only that the sweetness of spring was blooming on the tip of his tongue and the soft hum of your surprised gasp echoed in his ears. Finally, the last of the distance between you two had bled away, the ice around him cracked and was melting, falling to the barren soil as precious drops of water.

And just like the steady drip of water onto that stone, you broke through his outer shell, to reach the warmth inside.


End file.
